RITA DI SANTO assesses the winners of the most politically charged festival to date
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Nothing’s lost in classic play’s translation into the physical language of ballet
[Andy Ross/edinburghfestival.list.co.uk]
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MAYER WAKEFIELD is entertained but let down by an audacious production that, sadly, doesn't ring true
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by drama that, despite accomplished performances, cannot overcome an unfocused script
New releases from Sam Carter, Spell Songs and Les Thomas
Scottish Ballet
The Crucible, Edinburgh
★★★★
“Words often fail to tell us how we feel and movement can do that,” claims composer Peter Salem. Choreographer Helen Picket has chosen possibly Arthur Miller’s most powerfully emotional play for Scottish Ballet to test that theory.
Picket’s narrative ballet faithfully follows Miller’s plot dealing with the 17th-century Salem witch trials in a society trapped in its web of moral fundamentalism. Even an audience unfamiliar with the play would easily follow the action.
The music is equally programmatic, with repetitive menacing rhythms only occasionally moving into sometimes plaintive lyricism to mark the more intimate moments.
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